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2004 Media Releases

For the first time since the Carr Government was elected, the five peak NSW environment groups have come together to attack the Government's natural environment policies. They called on the Premier to urgently act to prevent his legacy becoming one of rivers pumped dry, ancient woodlands and forests lost, Crown lands flogged off and national parks mismanaged.

The decision announced this morning by the Minister for the Environment, Bob Debus, to reintroduce aerial baiting in the northern end of Koscisuzko National Park will help make the Tiger Quoll and Dingo become extinct.
"We need carefully thought through wild dog management that protects Dingoes and Tiger Quolls; not this knee jerk extinction program," said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.

As the closing date for public submissions on the draft plan for Kosciuszko National Park nears, environment groups are concerned that the push for more horseriding in the park has ignored many important facts.
"Horse riders make up just 5 per cent of the park’s users but they are one of the main causes of damage to the park", said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness

The Colong Foundation for Wilderness today accused the NSW Government of attempting to create four new resort nodes in Koscisuzko National Park. The new resort expansion nodes are Bullock's Flat, Sponars Chalet, Ski Rider and Mountain Retreat as listed in the Alpine Resorts Plan.

Two environment groups today condemned the NSW Government for failing to control feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park, that failure has led the ACT Government to construct a horse fence on the NSW border in Namadgi National Park in order to exclude NSW feral horses from entering the ACT. The fence cuts the Bimberi wilderness in half, and flies in the face of cooperative management.

"The final scene shoot out for the Stealth adventure film proposed in the Grose Wilderness of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is an attack on wilderness and the birthplace of the NSW nature conservation movement. Wilderness areas should not to be treated like a plywood film sets to be knocked around," said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.

Conservationists have asked the Federal Minister for the Environment, Senator Dr David Kemp, to call in the proposed Snowy Hydro cloud seeding experiment and ensure that it is subjected to environmental impact assessment. Unless Dr Kemp acts there will be no due process for environmental assessment. The experiment is being fast tracked through the NSW parliament, with the subjugation of six environmental laws, and will take place in Kosciuszko National Park, in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the nation ñ the Main Range.

The Snowy Mountains Cloud Seeding Bill, currently being considered by NSW Parliament, will allow cloud seeding in Kosciuszko National Park at times when 'increased precipitation is likely to fall as snow.' The NSW Government, however, has no great confidence in this experiment because the Bill seeks to prevent compensation claims for damages.

The crisis over the Carr Government's handling of a cloud seeding proposal in Kosciuszko National Park deepened today with revelations that endangered species could be placed at risk, despite claims by the NSW Minister for Agriculture that it would not negatively affect the environment.

With climatic change an increasing reality, the Carr government has proposed cloud seeding as a response to one of the first obvious consequences of this global crisis, citing "concerns about a shorter snow season" as one its primary concerns. The Colong Foundation today urges the government to develop long term climate change policies for Kosciuszko National Park and the state, and not to rely on ad hoc policy on the run to appease the ski industry.

"The announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon Ian Macdonald regarding cloud seeding experimentation reveals that increased resource development, not nature conservation, is the Government's management priority in our largest national park," said Keith Muir director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.
"A similar cloud seeding research project was proposed in 1993 but was rejected following strong objections by the National Parks and Wildlife Service that claimed the proposal was incompatible with the parkís plan of management", said Mr Muir.

Road stability and safety will not be improved by giving the Roads and Traffic Authority ownership of the Alpine Way and Mount Kosciuszko Road in Kosciuszko National Park.
"If passed through the Upper House of Parliament this week, the legislation removing roads from Kosciuszko National Park will lead to undesirable park development in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the State," said Mr Keith Muir, Director of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness.

The Colong Foundation for Wilderness today urged the Carr government to stand firm on its commitment to a transparent review of the Kosciuszko Plan of Management in the face of threats of horseriders staging protests in the Park on Australia Day and later a possible march on Macquarie Street.